What is ALEC and why should we care?

The United States Congress is not the only organization in Washington DC that makes US laws. There is another, more secretive organization in DC that enables representatives of the most powerful global corporations and industry organizations to draft, debate and vote on bills that serve corporate interests and corporate profits. These pro-corporation bills are disseminated to willing state legislators who are trained through boot camps and guideline materials, entertained at conferences, and honored for getting legislation based on these model bills passed into law in their home states.

Sound outrageous, paranoid, conspiratorial? It is nevertheless true and – they tell us – legal.

Thanks to the secretive but highly efficient American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), corporations are paying for the privilege of drafting state laws that, wrapped in patriotic-sounding language, often limit corporations’ liabilities and citizens’ rights. And some state legislators, including a number here in North Carolina, claim to be happy for this legislative “help” (not to mention the chance to be courted by wealthy potential political supporters).

Headquartered on Vermont Avenue in Washington, DC, ALEC has
approximately 300 Private Sector members SourceWatch.org has made a list of these members public. It includes corporations, industry lobbyists and foundations such as the American Bankers Association, the American Gas Association (which lobbies for pro-hydraulic fracking legislation), AT&T, BP, Connections Academy (which lobbies for privatizing education), Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline, the Heritage Foundation, IBM, Koch Industries, PhRMA, WalMart and many more.

According to the ALEC website, Private Sector members pay $7,000, $12,000 or $25,000 for various levels of access to ALEC benefits, including the ALEC Task Forces, where they can meet with legislators to model laws. ALEC reports that they have nearly 2000 state legislative members from across the county; membership dues for them are $50 annually, and these may be paid by ALEC “scholarships.”

ALEC boasts the following:

To date, ALEC’s Task Forces have considered, written and approved hundreds of model bills on a wide range of issues, model legislation that will frame the debate today and far into the future. Each year, close to 1,000 bills, based at least in part on ALEC Model Legislation, are introduced in the states. Of these, an average of 20 percent become law. (ALEC website)

The truth of these claims became apparent in July 2011, when more than 800 previously secret ALEC model bills and resolutions were leaked to the the Center for Media and Democracy. These documents reveal the astonishing depth and scope of ALEC ‘s influence on state laws.